In The Word
Read: Jeremiah 42-43
Warning against Going to Egypt
42 Then all the commanders of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the small to the great approached2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our pleading come before you, and pray for us to the Lord your God for all this remnant—since we have been left onlya few out of many, just as your own eyes now see us— 3 that the Lord your God will tell us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do.”4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the Lord gives you as an answer. I will not withhold a word from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. 6 Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well for us when we listen to the voice of the Lordour God.”
7 Now at the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great, 9 and said to them, “This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before Him: 10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relent of the disaster that I have inflicted on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12 I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 13 But if you are going to say, “We will not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; 15 then in that case listen to the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your minds to enter Egypt and go in to reside there, 16 then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So all the people who set their minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’”
18 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “As My anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a disgrace; and you will not see this place again.” 19 The Lordhas spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, “Do not go to Egypt!” You know for certain that I have admonished you today. 20 For you have only deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21 So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22 And now you shall know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the place where you desire to go to reside.
In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment
43 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent to them, had finished telling all the people all the words of the Lord their God—that is, all these words— 2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon!” 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah. 5 Instead, Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been scattered, in order to reside in the land of Judah— 6 the men, the women, the children, the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, together with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah— 7 and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the Lord) and went in as far as Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 “Take somelarge stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of theJews; 10 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to send men and get My servant Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and I am going to set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. 11 He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. 12 And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. 13 He will also smash to pieces the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
A rebellion arose and some of the people living in Judah were killed. The remaining inhabitants became scared and wanted to flee to Egypt for safety. They approached Jeremiah to ask God for clear direction. After ten days, the Lord spoke and promised them provision and protection if they remained in the land. But if they fled to Egypt, the calamity they feared would come upon them. The leaders ignored God’s warning and led the people to Egypt. Jeremiah went with them. After they settled in Egypt, God told them that the Babylonian army they fled from would soon overtake them in Egypt. They had merely postponed the calamity they tried to escape.
God instructed the people to do something difficult. All they saw around them was fighting, destruction, and desolation. It made no sense why God would want them to remain when they could simply go someplace nicer. The better we know God, the more we realize His ways do not always make sense to us. God tells us, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). God will likely instruct us to do things that are challenging to our flesh.
Has God ever asked you to do something difficult or did not make sense in the natural? Maybe He is asking that of you now. The real question is: will you trust God? Put aside what makes sense to you and obey God. You can trust Him!